Interplay Solitaire +4

I’ve had this on my desktop for years, and I love it, and play it all the time. When I found it available on iPhone, WOW! Well the love affair is over. This latest version is definitely NOT ready for prime time. Can’t get it to rotate, and freezes screen over and over. “BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD “.

Just played this game after years of trying to find it and wow! gameplay is fantastic, I love the design and the experience of nostalgia greatly outweighs any residing bugs the game may have!

I had played Interplay Solitaire on my PC for years - decades? - and loved it. I was so excited to finally see an app for my iPad! But I am so disappointed!

First, every number card looks like an Ace! A 7 of Clubs should have seven Clubs on it. These cards just have a big Club in the middle and the 7 and a small Club in the corner. I’ve been playing cards for 70 years, and I can immediately tell what suit and number a normal card is. Not these, though! They take concentration — concentration I would rather spend on winning the game. This design might make it easier to play on a cellphone, but it’s very unpleasant on an iPad.

The games are also slow. I have to try several times to move a card from the tableau to the foundation and get it to stay there. And in Forty Thieves I had to move a run one card at a time, although the instructions indicated the entire run can be moved.

In Salic Law, it says the Queens are discarded when they appear. Discarded where? I had to play mine to the foundation. Doesn’t affect the game, but it’s called Salic Law because the queens aren’t played. (Under Salic Law, women don’t inherit.)

I still haven’t figured out how I’m supposed to move the cards in Pyramid. One tap? Two? Slide? Whoops! Sometimes they pair up, sometimes they don’t.

The PC version was absolutely the best solitaire program. The app still has a pretty good selection of games, though I think fewer than the original, but the playability is very disappointing.

It would certainly nice if they made a game for iPads that showed the entire face of the card! Take a look at Card Shark to see how a solitaire program is supposed to be designed!

You’ve got good games here; now do them justice with a better design.

(I wish the developers had the courage to publish the reviews, but I assume they’re too negative. I’d be interested to see what others say.)